KFH said last year it was reshuffling its top management and planned to work with advisors to sell, merge or restructure unprofitable subsidiaries after a fall in profits in 2011.

“The growth in KFH’s 2012 financial results confirms the success of KFH’s Transformation Programme,” KFH Chairman Mohammad Al-Khudairi, said in an emailed statement, saying this had put the group on the right track for sustainable profits.

In the fourth quarter of 2012 net profit was 11.8 million Kuwaiti dinars, according to a Reuters calculation based on financial statements, compared to 9.54 million dinars in the same period a year earlier.

Four analysts in a Reuters survey had predicted 32.78 million dinars net profit on average for the quarter to end-December.